Gold gains in Asia with central bank meeting eyed

11:16 am March 13, 2017| Last Modified: 11:16 am March 13, 2017

New York, US (BBN) – Gold prices rose in Asia on Monday with key central bank meetings to dominate sentiment during the week.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures rose 0.31 per cent to $1,205.15 a troy ounce, coming off a nearly 2 per cent drop for the week ended March 10, reports Investing.com.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for May delivery jumped 0.73 per cent at $17.047 a troy ounce, while copper futures were quoted at $2.605 a pound.
The red metal recorded a loss of 3.7 per cent for the week ended March 10.
In Japan, core machinery orders for January slumped 8.2 per cent year-on-year, compared with a 3.3 per cent drop seen and dipped 3.2 per cent month-on-month, compared to a 0.5 per cent increase expected. USD/JPY rose 0.05 per cent to 114.86 after the data.
Global financial markets will be busy with central bank meetings in the week ahead, with policy decisions due in the US, Japan, the UK and Switzerland.
Investors will also keep an eye out for headlines coming out of a two-day meeting of G20 central bankers and finance ministers in Germany for further hints on the strength of the global economy and the future direction of monetary policy.
Last week, gold prices settled lower for the ninth session in a row on Friday, after strong US employment data reinforced expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike next week.
The US economy added 235,000 jobs in February from the prior month, as the construction sector recorded its largest gain in nearly 10 years due to unseasonably warm weather, the Labor Department said Friday.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.7 per cent from 4.8 per cent in January, even as more people rushed into the labor market.
But average hourly earnings rose just 0.2 per cent in February from a year earlier, below expectations for a 0.3 per cent rise.
The small gain lifted the year-on-year increase in earnings to 2.8 per cent, disappointing some investors.
US short-term interest rate futures were little changed following the employment report, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, underscoring the likelihood that the US central bank will raise rates next week and two more times in 2017.BBN/SK/AD

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